Heredity isn’t a simple matter of genes that pass from parent to child.
It continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to the trillions that make up an adult.
We say we inherit genes from our ancestors but we also inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives,
from microbes to the technologies we use to make life more comfortable.
We need a new – broader-ranging – definition of what heredity is.
In She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, Carl Zimmer provides it.
